In the grand tradition of viral, allegedly not-as-advertised experiences like Dashcon, TanaCon, Fyre Fest, and the Glasgow Willy Wonka event, a Bridgerton ball in Detroit this past weekend led to a lot of unhappy guests and a public apology from the organizers. To borrow a phrase from a much earlier incarnation of the internet…epic fail.
The event was originally scheduled for August 25 but, in a perhaps bad omen, was postponed at the last minute due to a “venue issue,” and rescheduled for Sunday, September 22.
According to local news reports, guests showed up in full regalia to the Harmonie club in Detroit where they say they were served undercooked food and basked in little decor and exactly one dancer: a stripper on a pole.
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“The way that it was described was this was going to be a Bridgerton evening. We were gonna have classical music, good dinner. There was gonna be a play and they were gonna pick Diamond of the season. They were gonna give away all of these prizes and we went in and it was completely empty in there,” attendee Amanda Sue Mathis told the local news. “There is nothing going on. They have a pole in the middle of the dance floor. A stripper pole in the middle of the dance floor.”
She added that the disappointment wasn’t just about the lack of activities but about the extra expense, on top of the tickets (in the low hundreds range), that she and other attendees invested.
“All of these dresses that you see on these beautiful women, we’ve all been getting them tailored to fit us,” she said. “So we spent extra money on costumes, all of this beautiful beading, getting our hair done, our nails done.”
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Another attendee, Charming Amecia Fuller-Ragland, painted a more vivid picture.
“It was complete chaos today,” she said. “They never even scanned our tickets. Then there were random people that we had paid to eat dinner and there were random people all throughout the venue.”
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The company behind the disastrous affair, Uncle N Me LLC, released a statement to 7 News Detroit that said it was “reviewing resolution options.”
“We understand that not everyone had the experience they hoped for at our most recent event Sunday night at The Harmonie Club, and for that, we sincerely apologize,” it read. “Our intention was to provide a magical evening, but we recognize that organizational challenges affected the enjoyment of some guests. We take full responsibility and accountability for these shortcomings.”
And the venue also told the station that they had no part of this.
“The Harmonie Club can be rented by all for private or public events,” a spokesperson said. “We are in no way affiliated with the promoters and/or organizations that rent our venue for events such as the Bridgerton Ball.”
As one ticket-holder aptly summarized, “Before y’all call me gullible, I know I am. Still not my fault! Don’t scam people!”
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